A Detailed History of Texas Ranger Company F

 

In the 1800s the West was a lawless place. The Texas Rangers were charged with bringing the outlaws to justice, but they did more than that being involved in Indian problems, family feuds, and cattle and land disputes. Sergeant James Brooks from Company F is one of the more colorful characters of the era. He was involved in numerous gun fights, and was convicted of second-degree murder.

The book also tells the story of the other members of the company led by Captain William Scott. It even dips into the families of the men. The author uses diaries and news articles to bring the stories to life.

This book dispels the picture of the Rangers as just hunting outlaws. They did much more including becoming involved in the Conner family feud. I found the book well-researched and interesting, but often hard to follow. It felt as though the author had a large quantity of information and wanted to put it all in the book.

If you’re interested in American history, particularly the history of the West, this is well done, but if you’re looking for an adventure tale about the Rangers, it’s not your book.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

A Fast Paced British Police Proecdural

Maggie, a five-year-old with a vivid imagination, insists that she’s seen a woman walking past her house being pulled into a white van. The mother worries that her daughter is telling tall stories, but DS Karen Hart thinks the child is reporting what she’s seen. The other investigators are not as certain. Some believe that Karen is being led astray because of the child’s resemblance to her daughter.

When a playing card is found in the drain near where the woman was snatched and again at the house of another kidnapping victim, the police take the case seriously. When a body is found in a farmer’s field, the crime escalates from kidnapping to murder.

DS Karen Hart is a character who stands up for what she thinks is right. I like that. I also thought using the child in the open of the story set the stage well. The pace is fast and full of twists. It’s not easy to figure out what happened until the end. If you like police procedurals, particularly British police procedurals, you’ll enjoy this book.

I received this book from Amazon Publishing for this review.

 

The Secret to Health and Happiness: Help Others

 

This well-documented book gives a series of doable steps to reorient your life toward better health and more fulfillment. In their previous book, the authors looked at healthcare and healthcare workers. Their conclusion that more compassion leads to better patient outcome and less burnout in staff led to the present book which extends their ideas to the general public.

The book is very readable for a general audience. The authors present lots of research from around the world, but make it understandable and interesting. The anecdotes help a great deal. They support the research with concrete examples of how helping people can change the life of the helper. This attitude is refreshingly different from that preached by many self-help books that talk about the importance of “me time” and putting yourself first.

This is a book anyone can read and learn from. I enjoyed it and think it can help orient your life toward better health and happiness.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

High Couture, Paris, and Mystery

 

It’s 2017, Lucile has a fraught relationship with her mother, but she’s devoted to her grandmother, Sylvie. When Sylvie asks her to go to Paris to retrieve a fabulous Dior dress from 1952, she agrees thinking it will be a simple task. The simple task turns into a mystery, and a hunt for missing dresses that could change her life.

In 1952 Alice Ainsley lives in Paris with her new husband Albert, the British Ambassador. Alice has everything, magnificent dresses, jewels, and entree to all the fabulous parties in Paris, but she feels that Albert’s affection has waned. Then a dashing man enters her life and promises complications.

If you love fashion and Paris, this is a book you’ll enjoy. In her search for the missing dresses Lucille visits Paris landmarks and views gorgeous Dior dresses from the 1950s. The author does a good job meshing the story lines from two different eras. I loved the detailed descriptions of Paris and the Dior dresses.

Lucille is a heroine you have to like. As her quest takes her through Paris, she gains self-assurance and competence in solving the mystery of the dresses. Alice is also a good character, but her story is less upbeat than Lucille’s and it was harder for me to get into. This is a good book to curl up with.

I received this book from Berkley Publishing for this review.

Embracing Your Heritage

 

Everyone has a family. Some families are more homogeneous than others, but most contain elements of different nationalities or racial groups. This is an excellent book for children. It can be confusing for children when trying to understand why they look like some members of the family and not others, but in the end, this book says it all. You are one hundred percent you.

The story takes the main character and her parents from a walk around the neighborhood into the city. A neighbor tells her she looks like both her parents although each has a different background. In the city she sees other people of many racial groups. The experience makes her think about who she is.

The pictures are delightful. Children will love them. I thought they fit the story perfectly. In the end the main character realizes that no matter what her parents backgrounds are, she’s a unique individual. I highly recommend this book for young children.

I received this book from Pacific Court Books for this review.

Spies and Journalism in the Cold War Era

 

It’s 1953, Louise Leithauser is working to become a serious journalist and author. She has a job at her boyfriend Joe’s literary magazine, Downtown, where she’s been given the opportunity to shine. Her first article had to be published under a make pseudonym, but she thinks it’s worth it when she gets the opportunity to interview Ernest Hemingway. In addition, the novel she’s writing about a housewife to defects to the Soviet Union to become an astronaut is going well.

However, life is never perfect. When she overhears Joe and his partner talking about listening devices and death threats, she has to find out what is going on. Her foray in to murky world that may include espionage, the CIA, and censorship of writers changes her and the novel she’s writing.

I thought the author did an excellent job bringing the post WWII world to life. Louise’s problems in the workforce were experienced by many women looking for careers. Now that the war was over, women were supposed to go back to being wives and mothers no matter what their ambitions were.

The involvement of the CIA in trying to censor artists and writers is true to life and provides a realistic background for the story. I enjoyed all the vignettes of famous writers that appeared in the novel. What I didn’t enjoy was having to move from the story of Louise’s life to the novel she was writing. I found it intrusive and frankly, the novel wasn’t as interesting as what was happening to Louise.

I received this book from Doubleday for this review.

Assess Your Advantages

This book makes the excellent point that everyone has advantages. The important thing is to recognize them and build on your strengths. If your ambition is to start a company or a business, don’t just look at successful people and try to model yourself after them. The authors give you a tool to look at your own advantages and use them to succeed.

Certainly some advantages such as money, family background, education and intelligence to name a few can play a major role in your success, but they are not the determinants. Bill Gates had monetary and family background advantages, but he also had intelligence and drive. The later qualities are what made the difference in his success. The key is to look at yourself honestly and decide what your strengths are then make a plan that will use them.

I think this is an important book for anyone wanting to create a startup. There are many other rules to follow to become a success, but taking advantage of your special gifts is one of the most important.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

 

When an Old Love Surfaces

 

Molly Diamond once an aspiring writer is now a wife and mother living in an affluent community that she doesn’t feel comfortable in. Like all couples, Molly and her husband, Hunter, have their struggles exacerbated by Molly trying to get pregnant with their second child.

Ten years ago, Molly was madly in love with Jake, the lead singer in a band. He even wrote a hit song for her. Now she’s hearing the song again and old memories come back. In the midst of her problems, Sabrina moves to Molly’s community. She’s different from the other women and Molly is sure she’s found a friend.

Sabrina, however, has a past and it ties to Molly. As their friendship unfolds secrets both from Sabrina and Molly surface. Now Molly has to face things she would rather keep buried.

The story is told from three points of view: Molly, Sabrina, and Jake. I thought it added a lot to a rather mundane story to have insight into how each of the characters viewed what was happening. I didn’t particularly like the characters. There was much happening that could have led to growth, but none of them seemed to change or want to change.

If you enjoy a rather gossipy romantic interlude, this book is for you. It is definitely not a thriller of a mystery, but it can be an enjoyable read.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

President Nixon, CIA Director Helms, and Watergate

 

Watergate took place fifty years. In light of the myriad scandals today, the burglary itself seems rather quaint. However, that wasn’t the whole story. Morley tells a much more complete story based on some documents that have recently been released.

Nixon and his CIA Director were men of large egos and both had things to hide. I hadn’t realized the extent of CIA involvement in planned assassination attempts in South America. There was also the Kennedy assassination and the problematic conclusion of the Warren Commission that found Oswald acted alone. Morley does and excellent job of laying out all this history. It reads almost like a spy novel.

The book also looked at the question of how far a president can go. How far above the law is he? I found his discussion on point with the problems politicians and ordinary citizens are grappling with today. This is an excellent book for people to read unless we understand the things that happened in the past we will be doomed to continue to recreate the crises.

The book was very well researched and easy to read. If you lived through the Watergate era, you may be surprised at how much you didn’t know. I was. It’s a book for people interested in the Kennedy assassination as well the actual Watergate crimes. I highly recommend this book.

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

Accepted for Yourself, or Only Your Appearance?

 

TJ Powar, a champion debater, is a senior who has her life together. Or so she thinks. She’s beautiful and popular, not so her cousin Simran, who eschews shaving her body hair. TJ thinks that shaming Simran with a with a hurtful meme is wrong, and she plans to do something about it. She decides to stop shaving and waxing in solidarity with Simran. She believes that she can be beautiful even if hairy. However, she finds herself tested in ways she didn’t expect.

I loved the characters in this story. TJ is a determined character who faces challenges once she decides to be herself. She has to confront the idea people will still care about her for who she is rather than the carefully curated image she projected. The other characters in the book are equally interesting. Simran is a good foil to TJ. I enjoyed seeing the cousins rekindle the friendship they had as small children.

Using high school debating as the background for the story was an excellent choice. Not only did it provide TJ with a way to describe what she was attempting to prove, it also showcased an activity that can be exciting and challenging for high school students, as good as sports for the more intellectually inclined.

I recommend this book. The theme is a good one for young people. The characters are easy to relate to. Altogether it is a delightful experience.

I received this book from Random House for this review.

Pope Pius XII and WWII

When Pope Pius XII died in 1958 his archives were sealed. Now they have been opened and the picture they paint of Pius’ actions during WWII is not a pretty one. Although Jews were being killed and harassed by Hitler’s forces in Germany and Mussolini's in Italy, Pius XII apparently believed that his primary role was to protect his flock of Catholics and turn a blind eye to the atrocities.

Kertzer, one of the leading scholars on the Vatican, has spent years going through the thousands of pages documenting Pius XIIths time as pope. I believe Kertzer tries to be fair throughout the book, but it is not a pretty story. Pius comes across as a man weak both morally and in physical courage. He somehow seemed to believe that if he saved the power of Catholicism he would have a role in rebuilding the world after the war.

The book is extremely well done and very readable. It’s a long book, but I didn’t notice that. The story is intriguing and well-told. If anything, the book seemed almost too short. The story has a huge cast of characters, but because most of us are familiar with the actors in WWII, it wasn’t hard to follow.

If you’re a WWII buff, or just fascinated by one of the facets of the history of the Catholic church, this is an excellent book. I highly recommend it.

I received this book from Random House for this review.

 

Tragedy in a Dysfunctional Family

 

The Brighton, developers of Kaleidoscope, a shopping empire specializing in luxury goods from around the world, have two daughters. Morgan, tall and a brilliant designer, is the family pet. Reilly has no real interest in the family business, but she and Morgan are very close. When tragedy strikes the family, Reilly is devastated. She feels adrift mourning her sister and trying to figure out who she is.

Reilly takes off around the world to try to solve the mystery of her family and her own identity. The book is filled with amusing incidents, but the over arching feeling is grief and coming to terms with a family tragedy.

The book is beautifully written. It’s not an easy read and will challenge you to understand the complex relationships. The book is told in both first person and third person. At first, I found it confusing, but the further I read, the more I felt the choices were appropriate for the characters at the point in the story.

Reilly was an interesting character. The closeness of the sisters was beautifully portrayed. Reilly growing and coming to terms with not only the family tragedy, but who she is was a rewarding read. I recommend the book if you enjoy character driven stories.

I received this book from Dutton for this review.